Jennie Highfield is the President and CEO of National First Ladies’ Library (NFLL), the founding organization of First Ladies National Historic Site. National First Ladies’ Library seeks to be the foremost repository of scholarly research and information and a leader in education about the First Ladies of the USA.
Since joining National First Ladies’ Library in January of 2018, Highfield has led efforts to increase NFLL’s presence, improve the archives and collections, solidify thriving partnerships, increase programs, and expand resources for visitors to the historic site. Professionally, Highfield is actively involved as a member of the Ohio Museum Association and the American Association for State & Local History where she takes an active interest in promoting museum advocacy efforts at all levels of government.
Highfield has nearly 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Before joining NFLL, Highfield worked in numerous roles within arts and culture organizations. She started with roles in exhibits and archival research, then worked in fund development, marketing and communication, and public programs. Highfield is actively involved in the local community and throughout the northeast Ohio region, supporting several different organizations and initiatives. She supports nonprofits who work in the areas of animal rescue, social services, children advocacy, and arts and culture. She has held board and committee positions to support fundraising, strategic planning, board development, and more.
An Ohio native, she graduated from the University of Akron with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History, and a Master’s in Art History from Kent State University.
It's Super Bowl weekend and our very own Cincinnati Bengals are in the big game. I wanted to have some fun to go along with our game day luncheon so I worked with Vice President Hervey to put a football square game together.
100 squares are available for purchase. Names will be randomly placed in squares, and then numbers 0-9 will be randomly assigned to X and Y axis. The winners are determined by looking at the last number in each teams' score, and then matching those numbers on the grid and seeing which square intersects those two numbers.
Winners at the end of the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter will each win $100. The winner at the end of the game will win $200. The $500 proceeds generated from this event will be donated to the our Pack The Bus project.
Squares are $10 each and you can buy as many as you like. They can be purchased online through our website payment. Please include number of tickets and the word "Gameday."
You can also pay in person at our Friday lunch or email me with your order at MC.CantonRotary.org
Help me sell our 100 squares by Friday.
President Mark
(See Mark's email from today for a picture of the board and further info.)
I waited and waited last week before having to cancel. I might have been the last holdout of the board in agreeing to do so, but I waited because I value our time together at the meeting. I finally moved the meeting to Zoom only because I value your safety even more.
I hope you enjoyed the meeting live Zoom 'Conversations That Matter: Each One, Bring One 2022 Kickoff Session' with RI President Shekhar Mehta. We had to be a little creative in showing a Zoom on Zoom, but I tried to maintain a steady hand and keep the conversation clear. I hope that you can see this same steady hand and clear conversation in all that I do as I work to lead our club through uncertain times.
The big event is coming this Sunday with Ohio’s own Cincinnati Bengals playing in the Super Bowl. Terry at Mr. Mikes is putting on quite the party spread for us this week in celebration of gameday. To go along with the meal, we're also going to have a Super Bowl Squares Game, for fun and as a fundraiser for our "Pack the Bus" project (see separate rticle for more details). I’ll keep you posted on any other plans this week, but prepare to move quickly.
I hope you’ll have lunch with us this Friday as we have the pleasure of listening to Jennie Highfield, President & CEO National First Ladies’ Library | First Ladies National Historic Site. It promises to be a very interesting presentation.
Due to the nasty winter weather last week, President Mark and the Board decided to cancel our live meeting and instead meet exclusively via Zoom. Our guest speaker, Kelly Joseph from Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, graciously agreed to be rescheduled to a later date. Instead, 14 Rotarians joined a Zoom presentation with Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta, called "Conversations That Matter - Each One, Bring One 2022", where all of us are encouraged to bring ONE NEW MEMBER this year.
After President Mehta's presentation, President Mark and Secretary Paula Mastrioanni conducted our normal weekly business, to wit:
On This Day in Histroy:
1789 – 1st US Electoral College chooses George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice-President.
1959 – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” (Jiles Perry Richardson) die in a plane crash.
1991 – Today was the day the Baseball Hall of Fame Board of Directors voted 12 to 0 to bar Pete Rose due to his betting on games while he was a player and manager.
1997 – O.J. Simpson was found liable in Civil Court for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
2004 – The social website, Facebook, was launched today.
Weird Fact for the Day:
1824 – J. W. Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to the public.
FEB. 25TH - LET'S HAVE A "HUGE" TURNOUT TO SEE THESE AMAZING STUDENTS!
If you've ever attended our annual 4-Way Test Speech Competition at Canton Rotary, then you know what an AMAZING job these McKinley High School Speech & Debate Team members do applying the 4-Way Test! It really is a meeting NOT to be missed!
Well, we're happy to announce that this Competition is now BIGGER & BETTER!
First of all, there has been an addition of one more speaker to round us out at FOUR contestants.
Secondly, the Board has approved additional support of the program by increasing the prize money that the participants will receive:
1st place ……$300
2nd place…….$200
3rd place……. $100
4th place …….$100
Thirdly, the Board also approved an additional $300 to sponsor the McKinley speech team with their events. That totals up to $1,000 in additional support to this fine program and their excellent team members!
So........Mark your calendars on February 25th to attend the Canton Rotary 4 – Way Test Competition between four McKinley Students, with the winner earning the right to represent us at District 6650 competition on April 2nd at the Fairways Golf Club in N. Canton.
These students are extremely well-trained by long-time coach, Manuel Halkias, and Kitty Burgett, and their teams consistently place at or near the top in state, local, and regional competitions.
You do NOT want to miss this chance to see these top-quality teen speakers at this meeting!
BTW…. I will need 3 judges to score their presentations. Please let me know if you are interested in helping! Jeff Scott
Interact is our Club's Rotary affiliate at McKinley High School. Our Interact Chairperson, Jennie George, showed a short video last Friday that these Interact students produced, in which they ask for donations of candy that they can sell at the school to raise money for t-shirts for their members.
If you wish to help, you may either buy candy and bring it to our meetings for Jenny to forward to the Interact folks, or you may make a cash donation to provide funds so the Interacters can purchase their own candy to resell. You can bring cash to our meetings to give to Jenny, or you may make a donation through our website: click the "Make A Payment" button on the home page, fill out that form and make sure to enter "Interact candy donation" in the comments section.
Interact is Rotary's attempt to reach out to high school age young people, with the intent of instilling the principals of Rotary and to teach these young people the value of giving back to the community, as well as working together as a team to achieve a goal. It's a great way to introduce them to Rotary, as well as help them with their personal development.
More info on the success of our local Interact Club will be coming in the near future, In the meantime, please support our Interact's candy fundraiser. Thanks!
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